By Alice GibbsShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSome McDonald’s locations have begun rounding cash totals to the nearest five cents due to a growing shortage of pennies, according to signage displayed in stores. The policy arrives just as the United States Mint produced its final penny on November 12, ending the coin’s 232-year run.
A notice posted inside one McDonald’s restaurant informs customers that, “due to a discontinuation of penny production, we’ll be rounding cash change to the nearest 5 cents when pennies are unavailable.”
McDonald’s told Newsweek that not all locations are implementing the change. McDonald’s locations in certain pockets of the country are experiencing penny shortages and may round up or down to the nearest 5 cents if a customer does not have exact change.
Under the policy, cash totals ending in 1¢ or 2¢ are rounded down, while those ending in 3¢ or 4¢ are rounded up. Totals ending in 6¢ or 7¢ round down to 5¢, and those ending in 8¢ or 9¢ round up to 10¢. Customers paying with cards will continue to be charged exact amounts.
A McDonald's spokesperson told Newsweek: "Following the discontinuation of pennies nationwide, some McDonald’s locations may not be able to provide exact change. We have a team actively working on long-term solutions to keep things simple and fair for customers. This is an issue affecting all retailers across the country, and we will continue to work with the federal government to obtain guidance on this matter going forward.”
McDonald’s emphasized that menu prices remain unchanged and the rounding policy does not impact card payments or other cashless options, which represent the majority of transactions in the U.S.
Restaurants may also ask customers to use exact change or opt for cashless payment methods—including credit and debit cards or the McDonald’s App, where a variety of national and local deals are available.
Sign at our local McDonalds because of the death of the penny byu/thegreatlambini inmildlyinteresting
The Discontinuation of Pennies
The shift follows the U.S. Mint’s decision to cease penny production, a move ordered earlier this year by President Donald Trump. Citing rising production costs, Trump argued that the country had been “minting pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents.”
The Mint reports that the cost of producing a penny rose from 1.42 cents to 3.69 cents over the last decade. While billions of pennies remain in circulation, shortages are expected as coins are lost, removed from circulation by collectors or hoarded.
The final pennies, marked with a special omega symbol, will not be released into general circulation and will instead be auctioned. The Treasury Department estimates the discontinuation will save $56 million annually.
...Impact on Customers
Though the penny will remain legal tender, everyday cash transactions may increasingly resemble McDonald’s policy, with retailers rounding to the nearest nickel when pennies are unavailable.
In countries where similar currency changes have taken place, local businesses have followed similar rounding practices, a precedent McDonald’s notes as part of the broader context for the shift.
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